Raptors have 1 bad contract, & action is needed to move this fellow out

Every team has at least one bad contract. While the Raptors signed this free agent with high hopes of a payoff, he’s been a huge disappointment. What to do?

A report in RealGM got me wondering about whether the Toronto Raptors are saddled with overpriced players. Joakim Noah’s 3-year, $55+ million contract with the New York Knicks is the deal ranked as the NBA’s worst. I concur it’s a terrible deal, though I wonder if Carmelo Anthony’s monster contract, complete with no-trade clause, isn’t worse.

Anyway, there are no Raptors in the ten-worst listing. Both Memphis and the Los Angeles Lakers have two “representatives” (Mike Conley & Chandler Parsons, and Timofey Mozgov & Luol Deng, respectively), which doesn’t bode well for either team’s future.

Jan 18, 2017; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Toronto Raptors forward DeMarre Carroll (5) is tended to after being injured during the third quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center. The Philadelphia 76ers won 94-89. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports /

I skimmed through some other lists of bad contracts and couldn’t find a Raptor anywhere. Noah, Mozgov and Deng show up repeatedly, and I’d add Rajon Rondo and Bismack Biyombo (I love Biz, but c’mon – $18 million a season?). The last bad contract we had was Rudy Gay’s, and he was turned into gold by Masai Ujiri in that now-legendary trade with the Sacramento Kings.

DeMar DeRozan’s deal was criticized as being too expensive before the season started, but nobody is making that complaint anymore. He’s averaging 27+ points per game, and people like that are hard to come by.

So what’s the bad contract?

The worst contract on the Raptors is DeMarre Carroll’s. While I gave him a mulligan for last year given his assorted injuries, no such Get Out Of Jail Free card is available for his recent play. He was thought to be a defensive stalwart who could contribute sufficiently to the offense to take pressure off our backcourt. Instead, he’s been a C+ defender, and a dreadful shooter.

We’re on the hook for the rest of this season, and $30M for two more. One wonders what can be done with a player who’s made 4 of his last 28 attempts from beyond the 3-point arc. He’s all but untradeable; his production compared to the money he’s making is completely out of whack.

I don’t know if Silent Sam, a.k.a. Ujiri, is working the phones. Does it make sense to swap headaches? Rajon Rondo is out of favour, to put it mildly, in Chicago. The grumpy, argumentative point guard isn’t likely to change his personality, and neither is Dwane Casey, so head-butting would be in our future. While the deal would be much more appealing if Rondo were on an expiring contract (his has one more year), it’s something to kick around over coffee.

Bad GM hunting

The deal would probably be more attractive to the Bulls than the Raptors. Chicago would receive a player who’s unlikely to add to the off-court drama already afflicting their team. Quite apart from Rondo’s difficulties in getting along with…well, anyone, there’s no place for him to play on our team. A fourth point guard? I like insurance, but that would be a hellacious premium to be paying.

I want to clear DeMarre’s contract in order to make the cap space needed to bring back Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson. That’s why I’m hunting for a player on an expiring deal.

Carroll’s old team, the Atlanta Hawks, might like him back. Package him up with Jared Sullinger, and we could get Paul Millsap in return [much giggling from Hawks GM Wes Wilcox, followed by the phone being gently hung up].

I think you’re getting a sense of the problem we have. Rapture Nation, I’d love to hear from you. There’s no doubt in my mind we need to cut our losses with Carroll. Is there a player(s) we could take in for the remainder of the season? Please fire along any suggestions in the Comments.

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